Movement of Rank and File Educatorshttps://morecaucusnyc.org
The Social Justice Caucus of the UFTMon, 09 Sep 2019 22:12:22 +0000en
hourly
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A Guide to the UFT for both New and Veteran Membershttps://morecaucusnyc.org/2019/08/27/a-guide-to-uft-for-both-new-and-veteran-members/
https://morecaucusnyc.org/2019/08/27/a-guide-to-uft-for-both-new-and-veteran-members/#commentsTue, 27 Aug 2019 17:23:50 +0000http://morecaucusnyc.org/?p=16087New to teaching? Trying to get your bearings in being a union member?

Scroll down for this primer (or download), developed for our Summer UFT 101 to help you get to know what’s happening in your school.

If you are chapter leader or delegate or other UFT activist and you would like to join our Chapter Leader email list where you can post contract questions, please email more@morecaucusnyc.org with your name, school, and UFT position.

Thank you to veteran chapter leaders Kevin Prosen and Ellen Schweitzer for developing and sharing these materials.

I. A GUIDE TO YOUR UFT CHAPTER FOR NEWER MEMBERS

Chapter Leader: The official leadership of the union at the school level. The chapter leader has a considerable amount of power in the school. They are required to sign off on the school’s Comprehensive Education Plan. They are entitled to consultation over the school budget, the hiring of new administrators, and many other issues of school organization. They also represent members in disciplinary hearings. Chapter leaders are elected every three years by the staff.

Delegate: The delegate is the official “number 2” in the school when it comes to the union. The delegate’s main role is to represent the staff to the union by attending the UFT delegate assembly once a month. Unfortunately, a minority of delegates actually attend the DA.

Consultation Committee: This is the heart of your union chapter. The consultation committee is a committee convened by the chapter leader that the principal is contractually required to attend once a month. The consultation committee is typically where you will find the most active members of your union chapter. This is a good place to begin to get involved with the UFT.

Tenure: Tenure ensures due process rights for UFT members. Teachers do not receive tenure until it is granted after four years by the superintendent.

Grievance: The formal process by which a member objects to a violation of their contract rights. The chapter leader assists members with grievances and represents them in grievance hearings with the principal.

Do I have a strong union chapter?

Did your chapter leader hold a meeting for your staff within the first week or so of school? How many people on the staff attended? Did the staff engage in conversations with each other at the meeting or did the chapter leader just present information?

Do members speak well of the chapter leader? Do your co-workers feel that they can go to the union to have their issues addressed?

Do people on your staff trust the chapter leader?

I’m brand new, what should I do to get active in the union?

In your early career, your main task is to get good at your job and get tenure. Without tenure, it is difficult to be a union activist since you are an “at will” employee that can be fired easily. You will probably have to go along with what your administration wants and stay “off the radar” as a union activist until you are tenured.

Get to know your chapter leader and consultation committee members. Try to figure out their relationship with the rest of the staff and their relationship with the principal.

It’s a good idea to spend most of your time in your building listening to your co-workers and learning about their issues. Members are often willing to talk about what they like and don’t like about their workplace. You should listen and try to understand. You should also get a copy of the contract and try to learn the basic rights of union members.

Depending on the situation in your school and the dynamic of the administration, you may be able to get involved in the consultation committee before you get tenure. This will probably make more sense after you have established yourself in your building and gotten to know your co-workers. It is difficult to be an effective chapter leader before you have tenure, as it marks you as a union activist and a potential troublemaker.

II. THE UFT CONTRACT – A TOOL FOR ORGANIZING?

The contract results from the UFT’s collective bargaining with the NYCDOE. Like all contracts, it is a legal document, so the specific wording is very important for application.

Why do we want a contract?

Employers are legally allowed to make all decisions regarding employment and working conditions. In the absence of a contract, the only legal restrictions on what decisions are allowed are contained in employment law (federal, state, and local). Employees of course are interested in additional limitations on what they might be asked to do at work. In the absence of a contract, managers can assign workers to do anything for any pay, with the workers’ only recourse being to quit.

Why is the contract so long?

The contract essentially details what administration is NOT allowed to do. The default decision-making power lies with the administration. Sometimes the wording in the contract is vague and open to interpretation because the union was not strong enough to get more specific wording. This is a sign of management strength and union weakness. Sometimes you will hear people describe the length of the contract as annoying red tape that interferes with educators’ abilities to teach effectively. People who are saying this believe that administrators will act in the best interests of students, and that the union will not. It is anti-union propaganda. If you believe this, then you probably wouldn’t be at this workshop. That said, I wouldn’t want to defend this contract as so incredibly great. It should be stronger given its length!

What does it mean for a chapter to be “organized”?

An organized chapter has members who are aware of their own and each other’s rights, who act in solidarity to advocate for and defend each other’s rights (“An injury to one is an injury to all”), and collectively try to bring about the best possible working conditions for themselves, which are the learning conditions of our students. This activity includes a lot of conversation among members: sharing knowledge about current working conditions and potential contractual violations, raising ideas for how working conditions can be improved. These conversations can and should take place daily in an informal way, and at regular chapter meetings. Actions include collectively agreeing to raise issues at consultation meetings, filing grievances, and taking other symbolic actions at work.

How can the contract be used to organize a strong chapter?

The existence of a contract is not enough to make the union strong (otherwise we would see a very different balance of power in our schools). The contract is a tool for organizing, and is only as strong as the union makes it by taking action to defend the rights it contains. Members need to meet, talk, and be willing to act collectively. The contract gives people confidence that things can be won, that they have certain rights. Knowledge of the contract encourages people to participate and speak out. Often, people get involved when they have something at stake themselves at the workplace. Putting individual issues in the context of a collective bargaining agreement increases perception of the power and potential of collective action. It focuses attention on the rights we already technically have and that can be more easily and successfully advocated for in the short term. People like to win J

How can the contract be used to keep a chapter disorganized?

The contract can make members pessimistic about union power (often rightly so!) if a right is not clearly spelled out. Some can react by giving up hope and concluding nothing can be done. Too many chapter leaders seem to understand their job primarily as telling members what cannot be won, what rights they don’t have, especially as our rights are weakened in successive contracts. These “reality checks” don’t exactly inspire excitement about the possibilities of collective action! Problematically, the UFT has moved increasingly toward cooperation with management, removing many disputes from the grievance process, and toward joint UFT-DOE committees. Some conditions that individual members previously had the authority to grieve are now only actionable by the chapter leader. On this topic, see Marian Swerdlow’s excellent blog post on the MORE website (search “A Contract for Collaboration with the DOE”). If members do not see their own activity as relevant to the protection of our rights, they are less likely to become involved. The contract can be used as evidence that our working conditions are settled, and all that is required is the bureaucracy of the UFT as a service organization to address any concerns. This approach is likely to end up with a passive, disorganized chapter.

The contract is a tool for organizing, but also a potential limitation. Having explicit conversations about these different possibilities can be an avenue for moving members toward thinking about getting better contracts in the future and what is required to make that happen: increasing acts of solidarity and militancy and making the union more democratic and participatory.

III. SOME USEFUL PARTS OF THE CONTRACT FOR THE CHAPTER LEVEL

The right of membership – signing up new members, informing them of their basic rights and benefits, of the structure of the union, chapter-level activities (chapter meetings especially). Even though some of this activity can easily fall into the passive “service model” of the union, it can also be used to raise members’ expectations about their rights and working conditions, and help them envision more participation in the future. Crucially, new members can come to see the union as a source of solidarity from their co-workers. For example, with the new contract, current members can make sure new members remember that they can change their health care after the first year. These new members are busy – senior staff should look out for them in solidarity!

Programs and Assignments (Article 7A)

“Where advisable and feasible, preferences… will be honored to the extent consistent with the provisions of this Agreement relating to rotation and programming.” (classes, session)

“Wherever administratively possible… no more than three consecutive teaching assignments and no more than four consecutive working assignments (including professional activities).”

“The number of different rooms in which assignments occur should be held to the absolute minimum administratively possible.”

Additional compensatory time positions (other than programmer, some deans, grade advisor, lunchroom coordinator, COSA) must be agreed to and ratified by chapter. Rules regarding notification and selection of applicants must be followed for all comp time. No involuntary assignments.

Individual teacher programs must not exceed 25 periods per week on average.

Professional Activity Options or “Circular 6” duties (Article 7A)

Teacher chooses preference; menu can be altered through SBO

Meeting Agendas

Influence at the major school-based meetings (chapter meetings, UFT committee consultations with the principal, school leadership team meetings, faculty meetings) is unfortunately limited by the chapter leader. Though SLT and faculty meetings are controlled by administration, it’s an option to speak out and air concerns. “Faculty conference agendas shall be set in consultation with the UFT chapter committee.” (Article 7Q). Though it is time-consuming, just providing speed-bumps for administrative action can increase the sense of member power.

School-Based Options (SBOs) (Article 8B)

Any modification of the contract and regulations “concerning class some, rotation of assignments/classes, teacher schedules and/or rotation of paid coverages” must be agreed to by chapter (55% vote by May)

School Budget Use (Article 8C)

Before the end of June and by the opening of school in September.. principal shall meet with the chapter leader and UFT chapter committee to discuss, explain and seek input on the use of the school allocations. As soon as they are available, copies of the school allocations will be provided to the chapter leader and UFT chapter committee… Any budgetary modifications regarding the use of the school allocations shall be discussed by the principal and chapter committee.”

Student Grades (Article 8D)

“The teacher’s judgment in grading students is to be respected; therefore if the principal changes a student’s grade in any subject for a grading period, the principal shall notify the teacher of the reason for the change in writing.”

Lesson Plans (Article 8E)

“The organization, format, notation and other physical aspects of the lesson plan are appropriately within the discretion of each teacher. A principal or supervisor may suggest, but not require, a particular format or organization, except as part of a program to improve deficiencies of teachers who receive U-ratings or formal warnings.”

Anti-retaliation (new Article… #?)

“The Board… shall maintain an environment that promotes an open and respectful exchange of ideas and is free of harassment, intimidation, retaliation and discrimination. All employees are permitted to promptly raise any concerns that may violate the collective bargaining agreement, rule/law/regulation, or Department policy or that relates to their professional responsibilities or the best interests of their students. The harassment, intimidation, retaliation and discrimination of any kind because an employee in good faith raises a concern or reports a violation or suspected violation of any DOE policy, rule/law or regulation, or contractual provision or participates or cooperates with an investigation of such concerns is prohibited.”

Matters Not Covered (Article 21?)

“With respect to matters not covered by this Agreement which are proper subjects for collective bargaining, the Board agrees that it will make no changes without appropriate prior consultation and negotiation with the Union… All existing determinations, authorizations, by-laws, regulations, rules, rulings, resolutions, certifications, orders, directives, and other actions, made, issued or entered into by the Board of Education governing or affecting salary and working conditions of the employees in the bargaining unit shall continue in force during the term of this Agreement, except insofar as change is commanded by law.”

The contract also includes arbitration decisions and Chancellor’s decisions on grievances. This is why the committees formed by the new contract are so important – they will be determining rules themselves, or having them decided in binding arbitration. And for the Article 8I “Central Committee” topics (paperwork, provision of curriculum and supplies, professional developmet, workload of members who are not classroom teachers or paras, and workspace), the arbitrator is instructed to issue a “brief award.” In the past, more text and specifics in arbitration decisions have often been helpful additions to our contractual rights.

Expedited Reorganization Grievance Procedure (Article 22?)

“The chapter leader shall be considered a proper grievant in all grievances relating to program deadlines and contractually mandated consultations, including allegations that postings are inconsistent with an agreement reached at contractually mandated consultations.”

“An employee shall notify the principal or his or her designee of a complaint within two (2) school days, after the employee has knowledge of the act or condition which is the basis for the complaint. Within two (2) school days following notification, the principal or his or her designee must meet with the employee in an effort to resolve the complaint. The employee may choose to be accompanied by the chapter leader. If the complaint remains unresolved, the employee shall have two (2) school days from the date of the grievance conference to file a grievance appeal with the Superintendent.”

Not only are we one of the few union locals in this country that allows retiree members (who historically have overwhelmingly backed incumbents) to vote in elections, but a winner-take-all slate system that only allows dissenting voices to win a few seats at the margins of the Executive Board.

For example, even if a majority of high school teachers vote for an opposition candidate, they are represented by only six seats on the one hundred person Executive Board, while the divisional High School Vice President, the majority of executive board seats, and all 800+ convention delegates are elected in a winner-take-all system. Combined with the strict discipline of UNITY caucus members, who pledge not to publicly oppose their leadership in exchange for perks like after-school jobs and trips to conventions, it makes for a system that is remarkably resistant to change.

So it is no surprise that interest in and turnout for the elections is extremely low from rank and file active teachers, hovering around 25% in the last election. This spring, Michael Mulgrew was predictably re-elected by a wide margin, while turnout fell dramatically to less than 18% of active members. Over 4,000 working teachers who voted in 2016 didn’t vote in the recent elections. Retirees, on the other hand, maintained a consistent, turnout of 37%. Although the UFT constitution caps voting retirees to 23,000 votes, that means that retirees still cast about half the votes in the election.

Why did turnout decline so significantly? The number of votes for the Unity caucus remained consistent – about 10,000 active teachers – while votes for the opposition fell. This makes sense since we ran a much more limited, tactical campaign that did not focus on winning the High School executive board seats, but rather on educating and activating our base. More of our activists were younger and newer to their schools – good in the long term – but this means that they did not yet have the trust of their coworkers.

Additionally, because our campaign was based on our opposition to the new contract, allying with other opposition forces was difficult. In this environment, members opposed to the leadership probably chose between MORE and the Solidarity Caucus, who was also running against Mulgrew, on the bases of their personal network and the advertisements in the New York Teacher. It makes sense that members divided their loyalties roughly equally between MORE’s appeal to the spirit of the Red State Rebellion and Solidarity’s more bread-and-butter material (Solidarity and MORE got roughly equal number of active teacher votes, with Solidarity recieving about 1000 additional retiree votes).

Further, the election campaign time-frame was much more compressed during this election cycle, with only a few weeks between when nominating petitions were due and when ballots were mailed. Union leaders justified this by saying they didn’t want to make our year-end membership efforts (a danger because the new Janus decision allows members to leave the union at the end of June) look like campaign events. However, when the end of the year rolled around, the actual campaign consisted only of a few stickers and posters

Going forward, our campaign efforts, electoral or otherwise, are going to have to center around demands that connect to the day-to-day realities in the schools: around class size, abusive administrators, segregated schools. If more teachers can be mobilized around these issues, they can be mobilized to vote in their union elections.

However, there are some fundamental democratic reforms that need to take place in our union. The vote-counting procedure was rife with confusion, opacity, and dismissal of member concerns – and took three days thanks to a frankly incompetent effort by the American Arbitration Association. It’s important to establish transparent and fair vote counting so that if and when elections are more closely contested, no undemocratic behavior can take place.

Because of the efforts of D. Myrie, our presidential candidate who observed the vote count, the UFT has already agreed to a number of transparency reforms, including publicly publishing the election committee minutes and total number of mailed ballots, which has never happened before.

Under discussion are different voting methods, such as a mix of electronic or mailed ballots. However, we need to fight for a more democratic method of voting, like in-school balloting as occurs in contract campaigns, so that we can increase the turnout in elections and the connection of members to their union. Additionally, a UFT constitutional amendment can be petitioned for to balance the role of retirees.

Additional process reforms are needed, however. Transparency and accountability must dictate the process of the next UFT election. We suggest the following checks and balances:

balance the election committee with equal representation from each caucus

clearly define a caucus to prevent frivolous use of the designation

open up the vote counting process to facilitate rank and file observation and clarify the protocol and criteria for challenging ballots.

collect and publish divisional and regional data on turnout as well as challenges to the election

review and clarify the process for distributing material during the elections

Strong unions are democratic unions. As rank and file members, we demand our leadership open up participation.

* These numbers are drawn from votes for presidential candidates for each caucus, except for NAC which was tabulated with their results for HS executive board candidates.

** Estimated turnout numbers for 2016, assuming the same number of ballots were sent out – number of ballots mailed has not been made available by the union previous to this year.

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]]>https://morecaucusnyc.org/2019/07/16/what-happened-with-the-uft-elections-mulgrew-re-elected-amid-declining-turnout/feed/0morecaucusnycA broader vision for justice in our schoolshttps://morecaucusnyc.org/2019/06/27/when-will-the-uft-leadership-stand-up-for-transformative-justice-in-the-schools/
https://morecaucusnyc.org/2019/06/27/when-will-the-uft-leadership-stand-up-for-transformative-justice-in-the-schools/#respondThu, 27 Jun 2019 18:06:41 +0000http://morecaucusnyc.org/?p=14852MORE stands with parents, students, teachers, counselors, paraprofessionals, and all other UFT members who fight for the schools that all New Yorkers deserve. We need well-resourced environments designed to help young people flourish and learn from mistakes, while also providing a stable and manageable work environment for UFT members.

Based on years of lobbying, parents and students with the Dignity in Schools Campaign in New York City fought for and won a reduction in maximum suspension length (from 180 days to 20 days in most cases) and an increase in unionized clinical staffing. In his public statement regarding the new policy, UFT President Michael Mulgrew chose to emphasize how students can be removed from the classroom. While we celebrate with the President the hiring of clinical social workers as an alternative to suspension and greater clarity on discipline procedures, we believe he missed an opportunity to publicly advocate for a larger vision of what New York City public schools could be, and we hope that he will push for more. Our schools arrest and suspend black and Latinx students at higher rates than white students. We believe that our union should address this racial disparity by continuing to challenge policies which produce unjust outcomes.

Frequent suspensions create disruption not only for students, but for all UFT members – teachers, counselors, paraprofessionals, and other support staff who work with them. When those students rejoin their peers, they need to make up lost instruction, a task that falls to teachers, not to the administration who decide to suspend them. Excessive suspensions place undue burden on parents to provide supervision for their children. This takes parents away from the central task of supporting their child’s education, and may make them resentful of school staff, which then makes our work even more difficult.

Parents and students want more for themselves and their children – they want dignity in their schools, and so do the staff responsible for young people. UFT members know that often the way students are treated mirrors the way staff are treated.

This is the time for UFT members and leadership to stand in alliance with parents and students to ask for even more support to create the schools we all deserve, including:

More guidance counselors, with maximum ratios guaranteed in the contract

Smaller class sizes

More special education services

Services for DREAMers and ELLS

Greater teacher diversity

Divest from police officers to ensure funding for other youth development supports

Ultimately, teachers know that the most important factors in a student’s success are those which teachers can’t directly control – family income, parental education, housing and food security, and immigration status among others. When our union fights for policies that improve the lives of all working class New Yorkers, including students, the enormous task of teaching becomes more manageable.

In the short term, our union should fight for robust supports that keep young people in school with the help of unionized certified teachers and clinical staff. This builds the power of our union by adding more members, and by creating more stable school settings where teachers want to stay for the long haul. Now is the time to fight for more!

Mulgrew’s original statement:

Dear XXXXX,

Mayor Bill de Blasio, Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza and I announced an agreement earlier today that provides more clinical support for students struggling with behavior issues, ensures that suspensions are focused on the most serious cases of student infractions, and for the first time codifies the process by which teachers can have students removed from their classroom.

With this agreement, each school will be required to have — and enact — a plan of progressive student discipline, along with required training for the entire staff. In addition, the process for teachers to remove students from their classrooms — now poorly defined — will be clearly laid out.

The mayor and the chancellor also announced a new Memorandum of Understanding between the DOE and the NYPD that clarifies which student infractions should result in arrests or summonses and which should be dealt with by school safety agents and the school administration.

I am particularly pleased that today’s announcement recognizes what we have said for years — that educators need more access to trained personnel who can immediately deal with students in crisis. The new agreement includes the hiring of dozens of new clinical social workers, a resource we have sorely needed.

Hopefully, this new agreement will lead to a constructive and collaborative learning environment in more schools and classrooms next year.

]]>https://morecaucusnyc.org/2019/06/27/when-will-the-uft-leadership-stand-up-for-transformative-justice-in-the-schools/feed/0morecaucusnycHow to Vote in the UFT Electionhttps://morecaucusnyc.org/2019/03/25/how-to-vote-in-the-uft-election/
https://morecaucusnyc.org/2019/03/25/how-to-vote-in-the-uft-election/#respondMon, 25 Mar 2019 17:41:16 +0000http://morecaucusnyc.org/?p=10462
]]>https://morecaucusnyc.org/2019/03/25/how-to-vote-in-the-uft-election/feed/0morecaucusnyc"Ballots have been mailed to your home for the UFT election"Candidate Statement: David Price, MORE candidate for at-large seat in the 2019 UFT electionshttps://morecaucusnyc.org/2019/03/24/candidate-statement-david-price-more-candidate-for-at-large-seat-in-the-2019-uft-elections/
https://morecaucusnyc.org/2019/03/24/candidate-statement-david-price-more-candidate-for-at-large-seat-in-the-2019-uft-elections/#respondSun, 24 Mar 2019 10:30:28 +0000http://morecaucusnyc.org/?p=12178Our union needs to build power and exercise it. We are one of the largest union locals in the country and should be capable of fighting back against the powers that be, those who would squeeze us in the interest of tax “incentives” for the wealthy. Instead, for too long UFT leadership has acted like lobbyists towards our politicians and like customer support towards us, the members. No one has ever felt empowered by customer support.

We need choices in this election to keep the union healthy. After the Janus decision, why should new hires join? Why should current members stay? Too many members see the UFT as another deduction from their paycheck, another number to call when you give up on HR Connect, another vendor of CTLE hours. Too many members refer to the UFT as “them” rather than “us.” We need to strengthen our union by challenging leadership to do better, not weaken it by abandoning our colleagues to the whims of those who would stuff more children into classrooms and strip away our rights.

[David Price, middle, MORE candidate for at-large seat]

There are lots of things to like about the UFT, but even those benefits are tenuous because of its top-down structure. My salary isn’t bad, but I’m still waiting on some of it to come in 2020. My district rep is great, and I would vote for him to be my district rep, but wasn’t given the chance to do so. This structure creates too much distance between union leadership and the rank-and-file membership. Our leadership has a fixed mindset about how to get things done at City Hall and in Albany: support incumbents (regardless of party) and negotiate behind closed doors. We need a leadership with a growth mindset about the power of the membership.

I was hired in 2012 and thus worked two years without a contract. I was hired in the first year of Tier VI of the retirement system and thus pay more into our retirement plan than all those before me. Seven years in and still with so much to learn, I’m shocked by how this short amount of time would qualify me as a veteran in so many schools. We need a union that works to keep and protect veteran teachers, rather than using attrition as a source of “savings” in each negotiation. Paying teachers more to work in hard-to-staff schools does not solve the root problems that make them hard to staff. Allowing the city and state to construct more and more complex and expensive hoops for us all to jump through in the name of “professionalism” (CTLE hours, edTPA, etc.) is not helping to attract dedicated and diverse applicants to the teaching pool. We did an amazing job of mobilizing in the face of Janus last year and kept our numbers strong, but I worry when little is said of how many new hires have not signed a union card.

MORE is fighting to build a union that sees beyond the nitty-gritty details of our contract and beyond the parallel bureaucracy that has developed in the UFT. Our union should be building strong chapters in our schools and strong alliances in our communities. Our students are over-tested and underfunded at school, while many of them face an ever more precarious life outside of school as New York City becomes a harder place to live for all but the rich. Because we believe in our students, we must fight for them, and thus we must build a union ready to do so, even if that means taking on fights that for too long have been treated as separate from our own.

I am running because UFT members deserve a union led by ourselves, a union responsive to the needs of membership, especially young untenured teachers.

Why are the 2019 UFT elections important?

UFT members deserve a union run for us, by us, not by bureaucrats. NYC parents, students, and community deserve a union that will actively fight for social justice.

]]>https://morecaucusnyc.org/2019/03/23/candidate-interview-cayden-betzig-running-for-at-large-seat-in-the-uft-2019-elections/feed/0morecaucusnyc38228790_711482432557489_6798735347539771392_nCandidate Statement: Peter Lamphere, MORE nominee for Assistant Treasurer of the UFThttps://morecaucusnyc.org/2019/03/12/candidate-statement-peter-lamphere-more-nominee-for-assistant-treasurer-of-the-uft/
https://morecaucusnyc.org/2019/03/12/candidate-statement-peter-lamphere-more-nominee-for-assistant-treasurer-of-the-uft/#respondTue, 12 Mar 2019 15:02:09 +0000http://morecaucusnyc.org/?p=11637I’m running in the elections because the #RedForEd rebellions that have swept the nation have shown that educators who organize a strong network of rank and file union members can win impressive changes in their unions and school districts. The fightback in Washington State, LA, Oakland, West Virginia and Arizona have inspired me to build that kind of organization here in New York City.

I became an educator straight out of college because it was a stable job in the midst of a recession. I saw many of the folks I started with not last through their first years, and realized that we needed a stronger union to defend untenured teachers. I’ve been working as a math teacher for 15 years now and currently teach at a bilingual school for Latin American immigrants where I teach Algebra II and Robotics.

The omnipresent (and unaddressed) segregation of the public schools where I grew up had a profound political effect on me. Now that I teach in the most segregated school system in the country, the impacts of race and class on the education of our students is to stark to be ignored – and must therefore be central to any project of changing education for the better. We have to make #BlackLivesMatter in school, too.

The vision of MORE is shaped by the ongoing fights of educator-organizers across the country who galvanized their coworkers, students, parents and neighbors. It couldn’t be a starker contrast to the strategy put forward by Mulgrew and co. in the UFT leadership, who rely on their cozy relationship with politicians like Andrew Cuomo to get things done in Albany. This means that we don’t fight around the things that we need in our classrooms – like lower class sizes, freedom from high-stakes testing, or defense against autocratic administrators. And, as a result the majority of union members don’t see the UFT as a vehicle for change in their workplace. We have to organize to change that.

The 2019 UFT elections are crucial moment to reach out to our coworkers and communities and convince them of the need for knitting together educators and parents who want to see change into a common network of activists. De Blasio and Cuomo have already started talking about looming budget cuts – the current economic expansion will not last forever. We need to build a strong network now in order to be prepared to fight for stronger funding for our students and our jobs going forward.

]]>https://morecaucusnyc.org/2019/03/12/candidate-statement-peter-lamphere-more-nominee-for-assistant-treasurer-of-the-uft/feed/0morecaucusnycPeter Lamphere 2Peter LamphereCandidate Statement: Leia Petty, MORE nominee for Assistant Secretary of the UFThttps://morecaucusnyc.org/2019/03/07/candidate-statement-leia-petty-more-nominee-for-assistant-secretary-of-the-uft/
https://morecaucusnyc.org/2019/03/07/candidate-statement-leia-petty-more-nominee-for-assistant-secretary-of-the-uft/#respondThu, 07 Mar 2019 11:49:18 +0000http://morecaucusnyc.org/?p=11456I have been a guidance counselor for ten years. I have always believed in the power and promise of public education, a promise gone unfulfilled for so many.

Every student has a right to education but the type of education received depends on whether teachers, students and parents have ownership over their schools.

I became a guidance counselor at a time when the profession was changing from academic advisement to an increased awareness that social emotional health is critical to academic success. More counselors in schools means that access to social emotional learning also becomes a right for all students.

The daily trauma and oppression faced my most students cannot be overcome merely through academic opportunity, it must be addressed through increased mental health supports in schools, access to reproductive healthcare in schools and more social workers working with families. The most challenging part of my job is witnessing the suffering that students and parents endure with the current punitive model imposed on most public schools.

Students and parents need support and community, not suspensions and risk of arrest. I believe that there are opportunities now to increase restorative justice approaches and to fight for more counselors and less cops in schools.

Los Angeles teachers just led and won a successful strike that addressed teacher working conditions along with demands to end random searches of students at the hands of the police.

For far too long, the interests of parents, students and teachers have been pitted against each other within schools.

I am running with the MORE caucus because I believe that needs to change. And I believe that with the current teacher’s rebellion, it is already beginning to change.

The current leadership in the UFT does not have the courage to see this struggle through. They have been in power for decades and are resistant to change at a time when change is needed most.

There are currently more school safety agents in public schools than counselors. These priorities must change immediately and I am excited to be part of a social justice caucus working with parents and students to make this a reality.

We all deserve MORE.

-Leia Petty

]]>https://morecaucusnyc.org/2019/03/07/candidate-statement-leia-petty-more-nominee-for-assistant-secretary-of-the-uft/feed/0morecaucusnycLeia Petty44740273_10157857191523098_2631507426964144128_nHow to #VoteMORE2019https://morecaucusnyc.org/2019/03/05/how-to-votemore2019/
https://morecaucusnyc.org/2019/03/05/how-to-votemore2019/#respondWed, 06 Mar 2019 00:19:28 +0000http://morecaucusnyc.org/?p=11360
]]>https://morecaucusnyc.org/2019/03/05/how-to-votemore2019/feed/0morecaucusnycCandidate Statement: Jia Lee, MORE nominee for Vice President of Special Educationhttps://morecaucusnyc.org/2019/03/04/candidate-statement-jia-lee-more-nominee-for-vice-president-of-special-education/
https://morecaucusnyc.org/2019/03/04/candidate-statement-jia-lee-more-nominee-for-vice-president-of-special-education/#respondMon, 04 Mar 2019 13:39:40 +0000http://morecaucusnyc.org/?p=11299I have been a proud NYC special education teacher since 2002. At the same time, I have to admit that we face untenable conditions. Currently, there are systemic shortages of time, resources, and staffing. Many of my colleagues and our students with special needs feel that they are not being heard or respected. We, the experts, are rarely called upon to inform decisions around school funding, policies that impact our students’ services, and the amount of paperwork we are required to complete. Piecemeal grievances and special education complaints are not enough to fix the root of the problem.

A major problem is the Fair Student Funding formula, implemented under Chancellor Joel Klein, which changed the way schools are funded. Instead of having a separate budget for staffing needs, based on salary scale and special education provider needs, we now have a formula which allocates funding per pupil. Students with IEPs come with 1.5x the amount. This does not prioritize staffing needs but puts schools in a complicated position of being incentivized to hire fewer people and those who are lower on the salary scale. So, instead of putting students’ needs first, there is immense pressure to keep within a lean production budget. Our current union leadership has maintained support of the funding formula, as well as mayoral control, which has kept us in a powerless state as educators. Currently, the largest expenditure is in special education lawsuits with the city spending in 2017, $244.1 million in private school tuition for special education services. This is unacceptable in the largest and one of the wealthiest cities in the world. Imagine if that amount of funding was provided to schools where we, the specialists who work directly and understand the needs of our students the most, had more democratic voice. Instead, our union leadership has supported a multi-million dollar special education racket on the backs of our neediest students. We cannot wait for those in power to gain the sensibilities required to put power back into the hands who can make things better for our students and our working conditions. We need a union that leads from those who are working in the schools, and that is why I am running for the position of V.P. of Special Education.